Nine dead in Iraq blasts

Published December 15th, 2009 - 15:40 GMT

Car bombs and other blasts ripped through Iraq's capital and a northern city on Tuesday, killing nine people.

Car bombs and other blasts ripped through Iraq's capital and a northern city on Tuesday, killing nine people. In Baghdad, three car bombs exploded within minutes of each other in different areas near the Green Zone, which houses the U.S. Embassy, the Iraqi parliament and other government buildings.

One of the bombs exploded near the Foreign Ministry, while two others went off near the Immigration Ministry and the Iranian Embassy. Five people died and at least 16 were hurt, according to Iraqi officials, cited by the AP. Authorities were quick to detain owners of three parking lots where the bombs went off, charging them with failing to search the cars and check vehicle registration papers.

Hours later in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, two car bombs killed four people. A doctor at the Mosul general hospital conveyed as many as 40 were wounded in the separate blasts.

Talking to reporters outside the Green Zone, Parliament Speaker Ayad al-Samarraie denounced Tuesday's blasts in Baghdad and Mosul as "heinous crimes." He lammed Iraq's intelligence services, saying that their work "is less than what is needed and it has not risen to the challenges Iraq is facing." "There must be a firm stance, immediate measures and a review to all security plans," al-Samarraie noted.